THERE are so many openings in Manchester, it’s easy to miss the quiet closures. ToM always liked No 1 Watson Street, a pleasant craft beer bar with a good range, but it never felt an essential stop-off. While Albert’s Schloss up the road was constantly rammed N1WS just seemed to tick along on its site in the Great Northern Tower below champagne bar Epernay.
Now it is about to stop ticking after announcing its demise via Twitter: “In case you didn't know, we're closing down. We've still got some time left but it might not be the Watson Street you knew.” A new owner is set to reinvent it as an Irish bar within the next couple of months.
Beside it, the longevity of Dry Bar, which shut its doors this week, is astonishing. Opened by Tony Wilson and Factory Records in 1989 as a sister venue to the Hacienda, the laidback Oldham Street venue outlasted the nightclub by a couple of decades. Plans are afoot to convert the building into a new boutique hotel.